In text-based conversations, its AIVA agent can now tell when a customer is unhappy, so it can offer some consolation and toss to a human agent.

Customer engagement platform [24]7 thinks it’s recognizing when the customer is angry, so it can offer a few words of consolation — and then pass the conversation on to a human agent.

The company is announcing this week that its AIVA virtual agent, released in the spring of 2017, now has “emotional intelligence.” While the San Jose, California-based firm says this is the first virtual agent to have such a sensibility, there are other agents that understand intent, such as ones built on the PullString platform.

About The Author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.